Species discrimination through DNA barcoding for the genus Salacia of the Western Ghats in India
18 July 2015
Dev, Suma; Anoop, B; Anoja, K; Udayan, P; Muralidharan, EThe genus Salacia is a source of many important pharmaceutical chemicals used in the Ayurvedic system of medicine in India. Owing to the morphological similarities, taxonomical complexities exist within the genus. To ensure quality and assured therapeutic effects in the raw drugs from the genus, proper identification at the species level is critical. The main objective of this study was to arrive at suitable DNA barcodes that can accurately and efficiently identify the potential medicinal species of the genus. Among the barcode loci analyzed, ITS2 DNA barcode exhibited highest interspecific divergence followed by trnH-psbA, matK and rbcL. A clear barcoding gap was evident for the ITS2 barcode region where as it was less conspicuous for trnH-psbA as well as for matK. ITS2 barcode could discriminate all the analyzed Salacia species with 100% accuracy. We therefore propose DNA barcoding with ITS2 to confirm the taxonomic identity of the raw drugs in the market and to ensure safe supply of traditional medicines derived out of different species of the genus Salacia. Further, DNA barcoding based on ITS2 region can be employed for the biosystematics of the genus Salacia.